THE son of a 9/11 victim has revealed how he pays regular visits to Ground Zero to feel closer to his lost father.

Dherran Gilligan was just eight when dad Ron died in the terrorist attacks on New York’s World Trade Center towers in 2001.

With the 10th anniversary fast approaching, the world will remember the day terrorists struck at the heart of America and killed almost 3,000 people.

Now 18, Dherran, from Broughton, will relive the day he lost his father, a 43-year-old Everton fan who had gone to his office at stockbroker Cantor Fitzgerald on the 103rd floor of the north tower.

Dherran, a former Hawarden High School pupil, counts Ground Zero as his father’s final resting place and has made several visits to pay his respects over the years.

He said: “I suppose being there is like being closer to my dad as it’s his final resting place, and you are kind of torn knowing this was where he was murdered.

“At the same time it is one of the only places that can bring you comfort in a way. It’s really hard to describe.

“I’ll always want the emotion I get when I go there because it makes me feel closer to him again. But the further we get from 9/11, the longer time that passes, it’s almost like I feel further away from my dad.

“I suppose in some ways it’s comforting, in a really weird, difficult-to-understand way. It’s nice to be able to pay my respects.”

Ron and his wife Liz had moved to New York after he landed his dream job. They had set up a new life with their three children – Ashley, now 27, Ainsley, 20, and Dherran.

Dherran said: “I was off school when it happened. My mum turned on the TV and was struck straight away.

“I remember my mum took my sisters and me into a room and explained to us that my dad wouldn’t be coming home.”

In the days that followed, the family hoped and prayed for news. Just 20 people were pulled alive from the rubble. Hundreds were missing.

Dherran said: “We held on to pipe dreams that he got a big knock on the head and he had amnesia and we’d find him and everything would come back and he’d be OK.”

But Ron’s body was never found.

In 2003, Liz brought the family home to the UK to be nearer to relatives in Liverpool and Chester and moved to Broughton, where their home is now full of reminders of Ron.